PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I have written about this before, but what still stands out for me, as a dedicated golfer, is one of the strangest golf rules on the planet.

It is Golf Rule #12 in the lexicon of rules promulgated jointly by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the Royal & Ancient (R & I) organization overseas.

So, what is Golf Rule #12?

It deals with bunkers, those conditions on a golf course that, usually, you want to avoid.  They are sand-filled holes in the ground.  Golf pros appear not to mind being in those contraptions.  Neither do top-level amateurs. 

But the rest of us?  Me included.  Avoid them.

Incredibly, here is what the Rule #12 allows in bunkers:

• Digging in with your feet to take a stance for a practice swing or the stroke,
• Smoothing the bunker to care for the course,

• Placing your clubs, equipment or other objects in the bunker (whether by throwing or setting them down),
• Measuring, marking, lifting, replacing or taking other actions under a rule,
• Leaning on a club to rest, stay balanced or prevent a fall, or
• Striking the sand in frustration or anger.

Consider just the latter.  “Striking the sand in frustration or anger” is acceptable!

But, if you were in Oregon playing in a tournament organized by the Oregon Golf Association and you were seen “striking the sand in frustration or anger,” you would likely receive a “code of conduct” penalty.  And you should.

Why writers of the still new golf rules chose to propose Rule #12 is beyond me.  And, if nothing else, the objectionable parts of the rule should be thrown out or the entire rule re-written.

For now, my objective is not to think about this strange rule and, further, to avoid getting into the contraptions.

And this postscript:  According to Oregon Golf Association (OGA) rules experts, Pete Scholz and Terry McEvily (they join to write a rules summary for each OGA newsletter), the following also is true:

“Provided the ball is not in the same bunker, a player may take practice swings that touch the sand, even if they test the conditions of a different bunker.”

Without the sage advice of Pete and Terry, I would not have known that this was allowed.